Duck Lake Signing waivers,

Come the winter, the lake had frozen over and Hokulani was eager to experiment. Her parents had never let her walk on the ice she saw in her early months.

Paws stepping light as the most graceful dancer she took her first steps onto the slippery surface. Head lowering, she sniffed at the ice out of curiosity. Just how did it become this way? Would she really be able to walk on it?

There was only one way to find out really, when she was on her own that was. Should another come by, she supposed that there would be two ways.

The young woman strode upon the ice, gingerly, cautiously. Rising Sun watched her from afar, waiting for the inevitable crack.

It didn't happen.

Still—she was aware of what could transpire when ice turned to water again.

Girl, she called out, Come back to me.

A voice rung out making demands of her. It was not familiar, not one she cared for.

Eyes turned and head followed as she looked to the stranger. This ice, what will happen if I walk further? She asked with a tilted head as she called back to them. Maybe they knew, maybe they did not. Hokulani was determined to find out.

They did not seem the clueless wolf she had hoped for, but this could be entertaining nonetheless.

The air here is too warm, she replied, looking concerned. The ice cannot form enough for your feet—it will crack, and you will drown or freeze below.

The girl could decide whether to turn back or not, but at least the warning had been offered. Rising Sun stood alert, fur lifted along her spine. 

Father Ice was not one to play with, even in the best of circumstance.

Satisfied, she trotted to the other. It looks so solid. She muses. How strange! But Hokulani knows well that appearances can be deceiving. Why does it try to trick us?

She looks to the stranger, head tilted. They seem to have the answers, and Hokulani's curiosity is peaked.

No trick, she clarified, shaking her head. Some ice solid enough—some, not so much. Have to be thick, Rising Sun explained, with a rueful smile.

She looked at the young girl and cocked her head, curious.

Why did you go on the ice?

The wolf had seemed fairly brave in her journey, anyway.

Why had she went on the ice? She knew the answer, but even Hokulani thought it a bit silly. My parents never let me. She responds, They come from a warmer climate, so they did not understand it.

Now that she was nearly a woman, she thought it fair to let herself try. If this stranger was telling the truth however, maybe it was best that she had been caught before she went too far.

Have you seen a wolf fall in before? It's a sick curiosity, and yet she wants to know all the same.

She understood that. In a land where ice was fickle, they were right to keep their children from the ice. And even though her childhood had been different—

Not a wolf, Rising Sun replied, shaking her head. She sighed, thinking of the scene. An elk—we chased it there. Went too far and—

The crack reverberated in her bones. The bleating thing had struggled in the water, and it was only a matter of time before the wolves set upon the creature and bled it, dragged it, drained it. . .

Rising Sun nodded with a soft, wordless murmur. Ice is dangerous, she remarked. Take care with it.

She gives a nod, a silent gesture of understanding. I'll stay off then. It sounded as though the elk had died one way or another, and Hokulani was no elk.

For a moment she stood still; pondering, wondering, her face neutral all the while until her tail cocked upwards.

I'll be on my way now. She smiles at the stranger, letting it settle before she trotted off westward.

She wouldn't mess with ice again. Though a part of her was curious; what had it been like to see the elk fall in?